“Haunted Vancouver” … and More Ghost Stories from the Old Spaghetti Factory

by Greg Mansfield ·
Published August 8, 2016
· Updated September 21, 2016

First Posted October 14th, 2012

On October 12th, I had the pleasure of spending a few hours with Red Robinson, the Vancouver radio and television personality, and a small crew from Global TV. We recorded a segment, “Haunted Vancouver” as a pre-Halloween feature that appeared on Global’s Morning News program on Wednesday, October 17th. This was a great experience…Red was very personable and fun to work with. He really got into the whole ghost thing as we visited and talked about Blood Alley, the ghosts of Gaoler’s Mews, the Hotel Europe, the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant and the Hotel Vancouver. The weather was rainy but, for me, it added a perfect Vancouver autumn atmosphere to the whole thing…

When the video shoot was over, Red very kindly treated me to lunch back at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Just before we placed our food order, the manager, Chris, came over to chat with us. This gave me the opportunity to ask him if he’d ever had any personal experiences with ghosts in the restaurant. He was very open and explained that, while he hasn’t ever seen anything, he has heard strange noises in the restaurant when he’s been closing up for the night. These noises have included inexplicable bangs and cracking noises plus disembodied voices. He also detailed for Red and me how a young server had an encounter with a ghost this past year. It gave her such a terrible fright that she said she couldn’t work there any longer and quit on the spot. Apparently, she had been in the back section of the restaurant, helping to tidy and close up late one evening. While working on some tables, she noticed a little boy walking towards the washrooms in the back. With it being so late and no customers left in the restaurant, she thought it was strange for a little boy to be hanging around. She decided to follow him. With the young woman close on his heels, the boy turned to face her near the washrooms. Chris was unable to tell us what she saw in the little boy’s eyes or face, but it was obviously something horribly unnatural. Extremely frightened, she ran to the front of the restaurant to tell Chris about her encounter. He told us how he’d never seen anyone so terrified.

Chris also said that a psychic once visited the restaurant and identified the ghost of the little boy as “Edward” (or “Eric”) and explained that he is the entity responsible for occasionally bending cutlery on tables, not the ghost of the trolley conductor. The psychic also pointed out that there’s a vortex (a supposed portal between this world and the next) located in the back of the restaurant, and that several of the historical artifacts decorating the restaurant, in addition to the trolley car, have spirits attached to them.

Lastly, Chris told us about yet another ghost that has been seen in the Old Spaghetti Factory. This is of a little girl who appears at a table in the front window, holding a balloon. Nobody knows who she is or why she appears there on her own.

I’ll be updating the Old Spaghetti Factory page on the website to include this information in the near future. In the meantime, I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Sharron at Global TV for the opportunity to join her and Red Robinson in Gastown to talk about ghosts, Red for lunch and the interesting conversations we had on and off camera, and to Chris and the staff at the Old Spaghetti Factory for their kind hospitality. Next time you’re in Gastown, drop in for a good meal and refreshment there. You might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one of the resident ghosts!